Ford used the 5R55E in many rear and 4 wheel Drive applications. It is a good transmission but is susceptible to the valve body gasket "blowing out." The symptom of this in our vehicle was that the transmission missed second gear under acceleration but found a higher gear when we let off the gas pedal. This is an easy problem to diagnose and only requires basic tools.

That is straight from www.1aauto.com video on youtube, I have been unemployed so I have not done this yet, but it seems to be what is happening with my transmission. Hopefully they have a better gasket when I get the funds to do mine.

Update from Sep 9, 2015: I did replace the valve body gaskets, mine were not blown out, it does seem to have improved a bit. The issue is still there, so I now need to research further. BTW, replacing the valve body gaskets was not very difficult. If you have mechanical ability, you should be able to perform this fix, watch the video I posted in my original complaint.

This has to be the biggest piece of crap Ford ever made. First problem was a recall for a small wire harness to prevent the vehicle from catching on fire after you shut it off. Second problem was the brakes, then the O2 sensors, than the O2 sensors again. Then the door locks wouldn't lock or unlock. Inside trim started falling off. than engine starts running rough, mas air problem, never got fixed right, check engine light won't go off. Keeps blowing rear lights. Than ABS light came on. More brake problems. June rolls around and we go to check our mail, and have a small hill to climb and the transmission starts slipping. Now this piece of crap sits in the driveway taking up space. We took very good care of this vehicle. Always garaged, I personally did all service work on it so I know it was done, and done right. Oil was changed every 3000 miles, Spark plugs @ $8.00 apiece and and wires @ $65.00 a set made no difference. Now I look at Ford like this.

F__ked on race day.

Flip over read Directions

F ked over rebuilt Dodge

Found on road dead

I was a Ford man since the age of thirteen but now I would try to talk anybody friend, or stranger out of buying a Ford. Carol Shelby and Henry Ford are both probably rolling over in their graves. Advice for Ford (QUIT MANUFACTURING CARS) and go into some other line of work, LIKE POLITICS, THEN YOU AT LEAST WOULD BE AMONG FRIENDS. OR SHOULD I SAY CR__KS

Okay, So I my ex-husband bought this car used in 2002 (its a 2000) and it ran great for a couple of years then about 2006 we had to have the transmission rebuilt. since then we have had a few minor problems but it still ran decently. Now the driver side window wont work at all none of the windows work except if operated by the driver the radio messes up and just turns off by itself, the windshield wipers will just randomly go off if i use the blinker(sometimes, not all the time) and not as of this morning the transmission is slipping again.. it cranks up great and I back out of the drive way and from my house to the stop sign (about 75 yards) when i press the gas it revs but it doesn't move, I try to punch the gas again and it catches, jerks me really hard then after a few more feet does it again.. I continued on my way to work and after about another 100 yards or so it does it a few more times.. so I had to go home and borrow my grandmothers car... what a hassle.. I'm just not sure if i want to put anymore money into this thing.. HELP!

Started slipping in the 3rd gear band at 70,000 miles later on the od light would start flashing and would take off from a stop in 4th gear until I restarted the engine. Being a single Mom I could not afford a transmission so I drove it until I had around 149,000 miles and used my income tax return to get it fixed. Went to Cottman transmission in Oklahoma City paid 1980. to have it rebuilt with a one year warranty, also was told Ford had problems with the 2000 through 2002 transmissions. Anyway 6 months after getting this done it really messed up and they fixed it cause it was under warranty. Then one month after warranty went out, which was only 7 months and 4,000 miles it started slipping in the 3rd gear band again!! Called Cottman and they wanted me to pay them another 2000 dollars to rebuild it again!!! DO NOT TAKE YOUR VEHICLE TO COTTMAN TRANSMISSION YOU WILL BE RIPPED OFF IF YOU DO!!!!! So now I have 187,000 miles on it and still doing the same thing, Where should I go to get a rebuilt trans put in? my motor is great does not use any oil runs good so I think it would be feasable to rebuild trans.

I bought my Explorer about 2 yrs ago and in 2010 the transmission would hesitate to go into 3d gear! I am looking into how much it will cost to fix/what is wrong with it before I get completely ripped off. It is definitely a pain in the ass but it gets me from point A to B. I am now to the point I can afford something different or fix so looking at my different options. This car does not have high miles on it. I really did love this car and try to salvage what I can but there are definitely MANY complaints about the Ford transmissions! There have also been times the car would get stuck in 1st gear and not come out and when it did it make a loud "pop" sound that made me felt like my engine just dropped! No fun especially having a little one as a passenger!

one more complaint and one more notch in ford's belt about the transmission in my 2000 explorer. it started slipping between 2nd and 3rd, and now there's no reverse or drive. i'm disabled and cannot efford to have the repair work done so i am going to try an do the job myself. still, finding a (good) used tranny for a effordable price is turning into a job in itself. i have driven fords most of my life (58yrs) and have purchased 2 fords new. i won't be buying anymore new cars, but if i did, it for sure wouldn,t be a ford.

I have a 2000 ford explorer I bought about a year ago, I bought it used. A few months back the 0/d light came on and off a few times and stopped so I assumed it was not important. In the last couple of days it has been skipping when I'm driving and I'm told it's my transmission. I now have to fork out about 1,400 for a rebuilt transmission which only gives a year warranty. Ford should definitely be held responsible for these transmission issues. Just look at the number of complaints about this problem on this site. It's ridiculous. Stay away from the explorer, I will never purchase another.

I bought my 2000 Ford Explorer almost 3 years ago from a "buy here, pay here" place. It now has about 170,500 miles on it. I have never had a major problem with it. It runs a little rough sometimes but I figured it's because it has high mileage on it. I recently had it in the shop because the engine light was on and my brake light was on. I though I was going to need new brakes and I was scared that there was going to be a transmission problem. All the mechanic did was give it a tune-up and changed some fluids and now it seems fine. The engine and brake lights aren't on anymore. But sometimes when it hits about 25-35 mph, it shifts weird like it's missing gears or something:( But it doesn't do it everytime. The overdrive light hasn't come on yet, but I'm sure I'll be experiencing more problems with it, especially if the transmission is going bad. I just hope it holds out for at least another year, until I can afford a new car.

have a 2000 Ford Explorer. The O/D light started blinking on and off a couple of months ago, but when I checked fluid, the level was okay. It was also slipping from 2nd gear to 3rd, acting as if it wasn't going to go into gear. Then it began acting as if it wasn't going into overdrive on the highway. Concerned, I brought it to a trans shop. Told that it would cost $2100 for a rebuilt trans. I brought it to a general mechanic and had the trans serviced and some additive put in the fluid to keep it from slipping. It is working ok but for who knows how long. Probably needs one of many kinds of sensors also but I am not sinking that much money into a vehicle that is barely worth that amount!!! I actually bought this car in 2002 with only 20k miles on it and have had it now for only five years. It will be paid off in a few more months and then I will be DONE with FORD. After buying a piece of crap Mercury Capri and having to trade it in due to having a new baby, this is my last one. The cars are junk. My advice: Stay away from FORDs because they don't last long enough to finish paying the thing off, unless you want to spend major $$$$ with repairs of all kinds. I just don't understand why the company can't make a mechanically sound automobile. Spend the extra money and get a better car.

This problem started with the O/D light flashing, and refusing to stop flashing until I stopped and restarted the vehicle. At present, shifting into either D or R (from either P or N) requires up to a 5 to 10 second pause on my part until the transmission shifts. Most recently, the transmission refused to shift into O/D in spite of the fact that I was doing over 100 km/h and the tachometer was in the 3000 rpm range. I have to lift my foot off the gas, let the transmission catch up, and it finally shifted! A couple of weeks ago, I had the cruise control 'off' switch replaced (a Ford recall), and the erratic shifting actually seemed to get better for awhile. I spoke to the Ford auto trans specialist at my dealership, and of course, he said he can do nothing until there has been SEVEN episodes of that O/D light flashing. Apparently, the on board computer can report SEVEN failures, but has trouble with ONE! Basically, the dealership does not want to touch the tranny until at least SEVEN failures have occurred. And, they tell me that I can only get a rebuilt trans. (for around $3K); it is NOT possible to obtain a new one.

Amazing! This vehicle has never towed anything. When I bought it, I also test drove a Toyota 4-Runner, but Ford had 0.9% financing with $0 down. Perhaps FORD does stand for Fix Or Repair Daily!

At the first of this year my transmission started skipping third gear. It goes from second and instead of going into third hits neutral and then fourth. It is doing this consistently. Every once in a while the overdrive light will flash on and off repeatedly. When I shut off the car it goes out and may not come back on for a week or two. I took it to the shop they replaced the valve body plate to the tune of $250.00. Didn't fix anything. Took it to a Ford dealership after waiting a week for an appointment told them when I made the appointment I just had a valve body plate put in and need to know what else could be wrong. The Ford garage called me and told me it needed a new valve body plate and charged me $62.00. I told them I already had it replaced as I told them when I made the appointment. They said they could get it back in, in a week and drop the train and open and see what might be wrong, but it will cost me about $180.00 to drop and look. I told them I would pick it up. I do not feel stupid enough to pay them an additional couple hundred dollars to look around. I have not had a lot of problems with this vehicle, however, when you as much as you do for these cars you expect it to last for a while. I am still not sure what I am going to do. I may just drive it until the transmission falls out.